Bamako

preceded by The Anthem

During this summer's Contemporary Screen series of new international releases, you'll also see new short films by five leading international artists. These commissioned projects were made specifically to be screened before feature films--a lost tradition in cinema exhibition. The films have toured movie theaters in Britain, but the Wexner Center screenings mark the North American premieres of most of the shorts.

"I have never seen a film quite like Bamako... [it's] a work of cool intelligence and profound anger, a long, dense argument that is also a haunting visual poem."—A.O. Scott, NEW YORK TIMES

A mock trial examining the impact of the West's economic policies on Africa is the centerpiece of Bamako, set, as the title indicates, in the capital city of Mali. Against this highly charged background, the tenuous relationship between a sexy lounge singer and her unemployed husband, a suspect in the theft of a gun, unwinds. Danny Glover is an executive producer for the film and also appears in a small role. (118 mins., 35mm)

In The Anthem, Apichatpong Weerasethakul, the director of Syndromes and a Century, plays on the Thai tradition of playing the Royal Anthem before feature films: he proposes a "Cinema Anthem" to bless the approaching feature and clear the minds of the audience. (5 mins., 35mm) Weerasethakul, a former Wexner Center Residency Award recipient in media arts, introduced screenings of some of his earlier films here in November 2004.

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Admission

$7 students (tickets required)
$5 members

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Support

The Artists Cinema commissions are produced by Frieze Projects and LUX in collaboration with the Independent Cinema Office and supported by Arts Council England and the Culture 2000 program of the European Union. Frieze Projects are presented in association with Cartier.